


Place your Hand in Mine, Mark this Moment in Time

by GettheSalt



Series: About Holidays [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Easter, Gen, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Painting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 12:33:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6374908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettheSalt/pseuds/GettheSalt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having learned that they've been chosen to adopt, Leo and Grant spend the Easter long weekend with less relaxation, and more home improvement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Place your Hand in Mine, Mark this Moment in Time

The day before the Easter long weekend was busy in some places, and Grant knew that. It was for that reason that he had let Leo drag him out earlier in the week to get groceries for the holiday. What they hadn't done, though, was pick up paint. The news about their approval for adoption had changed their long weekend plans significantly. Not that Grant was complaining about that. The last time that they have been approved for adoption, they had gone and gotten the crib to put n their room, and built it, but the other furniture was still packed in its boxes in the room that would become the baby's. Not only that, but they hadn't done anything about the paint in the room, or curtains, or any other decorative touches. It was all things that they had figured they could leave for later on, but this time around, with the long weekend ahead, and no plans to go to New York in the cards, they had both agreed that they could go the whole nine yards this time. This time, they would set up the nursery ahead of the baby's birth.

“So... What are we thinking for colours?” Leo asked, flipping through the paint sample strips in his hands. This far, and they still hadn't agreed on what they were going to do when it came to that aspect. The furniture, for the most part, was white, although Leo had picked out a gray-blue armchair that was due to be delivered weekend after next.

“Um...” Grant glanced at the samples in Leo's hands as they dodged a family arguing about bathroom fixtures. “You're not allowed to give me shit for this, but... Gray?”

Leo made a face almost immediately after Grant said it, and Grant sighed. “I know, I know it sounds boring, and off, and not exactly the colour a nursery should be, but hear me out.”

“No, actually...” Leo flipped to the grey palette in his handful of paint samples, looking at them critically. “You might be on to something with that. If we got it light enough, it would offset the furniture, and the chair would look good with it...”

Grant nodded, smiling at the assurance that his choice was something Leo could get on board with. “And we can always add colour other ways. There's the animal shape photos that Jemma and Skye ordered us off Amazon. We could get letter blocks to mount on the wall above the crib, too, once...”

“Once we meet and name the baby.” Leo finished for him.

“That's what I was thinking.”

The choice made for the paint colour, they picked up a few cans, and headed back to the car. It had been a long day – they always were, before long weekends – and Grant had gotten home from work later than he would have liked. Dinner hadn't been rushed, but they had been fairly quick about it, knowing that they needed to get out and get the paint decided on, mixed and paid for before everything closed for the holiday. By the time they got into the car again, the sun was low on the horizon, nearly set.

“So... Waking up bright and early tomorrow to get started on this whole nursery thing.” Grant said, pulling out of the parking lot. Leo, in the passenger's seat, snorted. “What?”

“You.” Leo said, stretching his legs out into the footwell while he smiled over at Grant. “You're about to spend your Easter long weekend painting and decorating a nursery, and building the furniture for it. Five years ago, what were you doing on your Easter long weekend?”

Grant frowned, thinking about it for a second. “Five years ago, I think I was in Novosibirsk, deep undercover.” He glanced Leo's way, and saw the smirk on the other's face. “I think I get what you're thinking.”

“Do you?” Leo asked, crossing his arms. “You know, it's going to be a good few _years_ before our child can say Novosibirsk. I don't even know if I could find it on a map.” That was a lie, and they both knew it. “And yet, here you are, about to spend a weekend setting up a nursery. For a real, live baby, who will be your son or daughter.” As Leo talked, his voice lost the teasing edge, until, when Grant glanced over, he was smiling out the windshield, looking wonderfully happy. “You think you can handle it, super-spy?”

“I'm not a super-spy anymore.” Grant pointed out. There was a pause, and when he glanced at Leo, he saw the dawning realization on his face.

“Don't you _dare_ say it.” Leo warned.

“I guess I am about to be a super- _dad_.”

Leo groaned, thumping his head back on the headrest.

“At least you've already figured out the bad sense of humour...”

 

 

The only problem with the fact that they were both usually up and out the door to work so early in the morning, every day, was that when the holidays and weekends came around, sleeping in wasn't exactly fitting of most people's definition of the thing. It was barely quarter after nine when Grant felt Leo shifting around next to him, then cuddling in closer, his arm going around Grant's waist while he did.

“You awake?”

Grant smiled, cracking open one eye. “If I say no, does that mean we can try and sleep in like a normal couple?”

He felt more than saw Leo's smile against his chest, and then Leo was shifting again, nuzzling his face into the crook between Grant's neck and shoulder. “You and I both know this is the third time we've woken up.”

Grant grunted.

“You're just prolonging the inevitable, babe.” Leo murmured.

“Getting out of this nice, comfy, warm bed?”

Leo pulled back, shifting until he was leaning over Grant, braced on his chest. “And having breakfast, and then, finally, _finally_ getting started on our baby's nursery.”

It was hard to deny the rush of warmth that went through Grant at those words. Not so long ago, he'd been resistant to the idea that they could do this. Grant had grown up in a home that was less than ideal for forming well balanced children. It hadn't instilled Grant with a stable feeling that he would be able to be a good parent to any child of his own. But Leo? Leo hadn't been so ready to accept that, and he hadn't been ready to let Grant think that he wouldn't be able to do this.

The fact of the matter was, joining the team that Coulson had put together had been good for Grant for a lot of reasons. The least of which was the fact that they had all, finally, given him the family that he'd been looking for his entire life. Even when they had been stationed in New York, and assigned to different roles, they had all stayed close. Close enough that Grant hadn't been able to ignore the thoughts that he'd been slowly starting to get when it came to Leo.

Leo, who had been the first person to tell Grant he was going to take care of him, and mean it. Mean it for Grant's sake, not for his own.

Once Grant had allowed himself to just give in to those things, it had been a rollercoaster of a ride – definitely with a lot more highs than lows. Even though they'd fought more than once about the choice to adopt, looking back on it now, on everything that had brought them here, Grant couldn't feel anything but excitement.

And that must have shown on his face, because Leo laughed, and pushed a hand through Grant's hair. “What're you thinking about?”

Grant smiled. “You. Us. This.”

Leo rolled his eyes, and leaned down, kissing Grant gently. “You're getting sappy the closer we get to painting that nursery. Now, come on. Let's get up, get breakfast, and get painting.”

Grant didn't need much more motivation than that, if he was honest. The nursery, and finally getting it ready, was the final step in a long process that they had been locked in. One that they hadn't been ready to take the last time, but this time, everything felt more certain. They wouldn't be rejected in the waiting room, this time. Alicia and Nolan, the last time they had spoken, had been firm that they were the best choice for the baby. That they would love the baby, care for him or her, that they would provide the best life possible.

This all felt much, much more assured than it had when they had come home from the hospital, the day of that rejection. Grant hadn't thought that it would, and he hadn't thought that he would be able to get excited about this kind of thing again.

This was changing everything, though.

After changing into old clothes, safe for them to destroy with paint, as was likely to happen, Leo headed downstairs to let Scout outside and make breakfast – fried egg sandwiches – while Grant went into the spare room that was going to become the nursery. The first step was to move out all the furniture boxes. Those, he would build tomorrow. For now, they would go into the other spare room, propped up against the wall. He was just finishing spreading out the long, clear plastic sheets that would cover the carpet when Leo walked in, a plate in each hand. The paint cans were lined up against the opposite wall, paint trays, brushes and rollers tossed in front of them, and that's where his eyes landed.

“Looks like we're ready to start.” Leo said, handing Grant a plate. “ _After_ we eat.”

That was another thing that Leo had done that was good for Grant: putting into place a system of regular meals. Sure, moving to New York and being put in agent housing had helped with that. For all intents and purposes, he had been working a regular job, and with having the other agents around – their friends, mentors, and trainees – regular meals had become a lot more commonplace for both of them. Grant, who had been willing and able to go long periods without eating real meals, had been successfully converted into someone who had breakfast, lunch and dinner, nearly every day, without fail, at just about the same time, every time.

True, the domestic lifestyle had taken some of a toll on Grant's super-spy physique. No, he hadn't let himself go. He couldn't, not with working for the FBI, and keeping active with Leo and Scout, not to mention with the help of the home gym they'd thrown together in the basement. Domestic life, however, had softened his edges, as it were.

A few years ago, that might have bothered him. Now, with the way Leo rubbed his hand over Grant's stomach, before walking over to inspect their painting tools, it didn't bother him a bit. Leo made no secret of the fact that he was fond of the new softness that Grant had gained.

“We'll need to mount the curtain rods and build the furniture tomorrow.” Leo said, around the mouthful of egg sandwich he'd taken. “Or Sunday. But it might be nice to just relax on Sunday, don't you think?”

Grant nodded, humming in agreement while he chewed. “Paint today, furniture and curtain rods tomorrow, relaxing on Sunday.”

“Well, then, we better get started so that we'll have Sunday to relax, huh?”

By the time Grant finished eating, Leo had already popped the top off of one can, and poured it into two of the paint trays. The walls in this room were white with primer, never changed from when they'd moved in. It wouldn't take much to get them to take the light gray that the two of them had chosen the night before.

Using the rollers, it didn't take long for them to get the first coat on the walls, going around the window, ceiling, door and closet carefully with the smaller brushes. Leaving the trim white was a decision they made as they went along. Before long, the room, with its stormy-sky carpet, was looking new, and ready to be properly used.

“We'll need to add another coat.” Grant said, watching Leo scratch his cheek, and smear paint onto it. “We can break for lunch, and then-”

There was a knock on the front door downstairs. Grant frowned, watching while Leo did the same.

“Were you...?”

“No.” Grant answered. “I wasn't.”

He set his paintbrush down, leaving the room and heading towards the stairs, as the front door opened.

“It's just me!”

Grant glanced back at Leo, seeing the grin spread on his face, before the other was rushing past him and down the stairs. “May!”

“Hi.” Down, in front of the now closed door, Melinda May was crouched, rubbing the fur between Scout's ears. The dog's tail was thumping on the floor, happy to see an old friend he hadn't seen for a while. And he wasn't the only one.

“It's so good to see you.” Leo said, finishing the trip down the stairs, waiting for a second while May got to her feet. She was still wearing her flight jacket, unzipped over her plain black t-shirt and jeans, and her aviators were pushed up into her hair. It was a good thing she'd put them there, instead of in the front of her shirt, because the instant she opened her arms, Leo's stepped in, catching her up in a tight hug.

She caught Grant's eye over Leo's head, and gave him a wan smile. “Good to see you both.” she said, stepping back from the hug to shrug her jacket off. “I was doing a drop-off for Carpenter at the Portland office, and I figured, since I was in the area, I would come by and congratulate you both in person.” She stopped, looking at the smudge on Leo's face. “Are you... painting?”

“Yeah.” Grant answered, stepping up for his own hug. “The nursery.”

The team had been good for all of them, that much was true. After Bahrain, May had retreated into herself, and closed down from everyone around her. Now, years after the team had first been put together, she had opened up, warmed up more to the person she had been before everything that had happened in Bahrain had turned her into a shade of herself.

“Nursery?” she asked, stepping back from the hug, smiling and looking down at Scout, who was bumping against her leg. “That's a step up. You guys didn't do that, last time.”

Grant caught Leo's eye, and saw the look on his face. The same understanding that Grant himself had gained. That everything, this time, was different. They were both more sure of this, less scared. Properly ready to become parents. “No, we didn't. But, we figured. You know.” Grant shrugged.

“This time, we might as well have everything ready to go.” Leo filled in.

May looked up from Scout, glancing between the two of them. “That's good. I'm glad to hear it.” Stepping around Grant, she bent down to unlace her boots, pulling them off. “You don't mind if I have a look?”

“No, no, not at all.” Leo said, moving around her to lead the way up the stairs. “We've only done one coat so far, but come on. Tell us what you think about what we've done with the trim.”

May followed after him, Grant bringing up the rear. Scout's nails sounded on the wooden stairs and Grant stopped, turning around and sitting on one of the steps, facing the dog. Scout immediately crowded into his space, snuffling at his face and hair, his rear wagging with the force that his tail did. “Hey, boy.” Grant greeted, glad that the paint on his hands had dried, as he ran them through the dog's thick fur. “You getting lonely, down here?”

Scout huffed, tilting his head at Grant.

“I know, boy. We'll be done soon and come have lunch, okay? Sound good?”

Again, the head tilt, but Scout followed it up by settling his rear on the larger bottom step.

“Good boy.” Grant praised, ruffling his big ears with his hands. “Good, good boy. We'll be back soon, buddy.” He stood up, brushing his hands together, cleaning them of loose hair, and headed upstairs to join May and Leo in the nursery.

“This is a good colour.” May was saying, standing in the middle of the nursery with her hands on her hips, looking around the room. “Is the furniture going to be white, or...?”

Leo nodded. “White.”

“Good choice. White furniture with the white trim. White curtains?”

Leo glanced at Grant. “Probably?”

“Probably.” He agreed, with a nod. For all their talk of having to mount the curtains, they hadn't actually gone out and bought them yet, which was going to make that mounting task a little difficult.

May seemed to pick up on that between them, because she raised an eyebrow, looked at the window, and said, “You haven't even bought them yet, have you?”

“Nope...” Grant answered.

Leo jumped in. “In our defense, we had been debating whether or not to get them in pink or blue, just to give the room some colour, but if we picked blue, and it was a girl, sure, that would be fine, but then I suspect the neighbours would be coming around, seeing the blue in the window and assuming it was a boy.”

May nodded along, looking from Leo back to the window. “Or, you could just put the curtains up, whatever colour, and have the neighbours be damned for making an assumption off of that.”

Grant tipped his head to the side in agreement. She had a point, and it had seemed like the most minor of things for them to be debating over, back when they had. Not that Grant had been voting in favour of the colour curtains. May was, without knowing it, taking Leo's side. Grant, however, knew very well, and didn't miss the smug smile on his husband's face.

“We'll get curtains in colour, then.” Grant allowed. “Obviously, not today, but we will.”

“Thank you.” Leo said, addressing May, but not without shifting that sly look towards Grant. “You settled a little bit of an argument, for us. We were about to break for lunch. Did you want to join?”

May nodded, heading towards the nursery door. “I'd love to. I don't have anywhere to be until tomorrow night, actually, so how about, after lunch, I help you two with the second coat?”

“That would be great. But, uh...”

“If you're worried about my clothing, Grant.” May said, as they followed her down the stairs. “I'm sure Leo has something that I can borrow.”

Leo had a second to look indignant before May was looking his way.

“Yeah! Yeah, sure, of course.”

 

 

The second coat didn't take too long to put on, not with the three of them. By the time they finished, it was getting close to being time for dinner, and May offered to repay their lunch by taking them out somewhere nice. They took turns showering – not an arrangement that Leo and Grant would have preferred, but out of respect to May, they complied – and then, dressed in clean, fresh clothes, they moved the packed furniture back into the nursery for assembling the next day. Leo had set the box with the frames holding the cutout art of elephants and bears and dogs on top of the pile of furniture, and spent a minute looking through, before they left.

“The room looks wonderful already.” May said, as they sat down to dinner in a quiet corner of one of the nicer restaurants downtown. “It will really look put together once you've put all the furniture together, and placed it. Along with hanging those pictures...” She smiled at the two of them over her menu. “It's going to look like a nursery by this time tomorrow, I'm sure. Ready for the baby, with plenty of time to spare.”

Leo nodded, looking down the page in front of him, before flipping it. “It's a little surreal.”

“I imagine so. How are you two feeling?”

It was a question they had both been asked, multiple times since they had made the announcement that they had been chosen once again. Usually, the question was answered for them, with 'you must be so happy and excited!'

And it wasn't that they weren't, but, really, for Leo and Grant, they were the only ones who knew the whole story behind how they were feeling. For May to ask 'how are you feeling?' opened up a can that no one else had given them the chance to open.

“Excited.”

“Happy.”

“Nervous.”

“Scared.”

“Ecstatic.”

“Relieved.”

May's eyebrows rose on her forehead.

“So, a mixed bag.” She filled in for the two of them, earning a set of nods for it. “That's to be expected. I know, I'm not one to talk, because I don't have children of my own--”

Leo cut her off with a wave of his hand. “--I never thought that was an issue. Not really. Melinda, you know that we value your advice.”

“Probably more than Coulson's.”

Leo looked over at Grant as he spoke, and then nodded. “He's right. Probably more than Coulson's.”

May continued, her own smile rather smug. “I think it's a good thing that you're feeling a mixed bag. If there wasn't any nervousness, or apprehension, I would be worried. You're taking a life into your hands, and I know that you've both done that before, but you hadn't done it like this. And you know it. You know that this is different, because this baby is going to rely on you for every little thing in its life. It's not just going to be to protect, but it's going to be teaching, and caring, and loving. If's a big job to take on, and if you were both feeling cocky and sure of yourselves, I would be concerned.” She laid down her menu, obviously having made up her mind about what she would be ordering. “The fact that you're happy _and_ nervous? That's good.”

Grant let out a breath. “You think we can do this?”

May raised her glass. “I know you can.”

 

 

Dinner was a long affair. They spent more time talking, than eating, doing a lot of catch-up. It turned out, even though Coulson was the Avengers' liaison, it didn't stop him from gossiping to May about everything from Rogers' ups and downs with the rehabilitated Barnes, to Stark's latest unexpected technological breakthrough. May also had updates about the others, from Trip, to Morse, to people they might not have wanted to hear about, but appreciated the update on, either way. And they'd spoken more about the nursery, Leo expressing his wish that they could decorate in a way that was a little more personal and specific to them. They'd gone over the furniture that needed to be built the next day, and the clothes they had already bought for the baby. Whether or not they were prepared to have to get up and make formula every night, if they were fully prepared and ready for everything that raising a baby entailed.

The best part of it, in Grant's eyes, was the way that May looked at them while they assured her they were ready. She was looking at them like she not only believed it, she _knew_ it. After she had helped their team through so much, it was reassuring to see.

By the time they got home, Grant felt pleasantly warm from their drinks, and Leo was just a little more than pleasantly buzzed, grinning as he leaned on the banister while they said goodnight to May.

“Just a little over a month to go.” She said. “I'll come by in the morning tomorrow, to see how everything's coming along.” Hesitating, she gave Leo a particular smile. “And I might have something with me that will help with that decorating problem you described.”

“Decorating problem?” Leo asked, clearly not distinctly remembering every minute detail of their dinner talk. In response, May just winked, and opened the door to leave with a final, “Have a good night.”

Once the door was closed, Grant locked it behind her, and turned around to face Leo. He was leaning heavily on the banister, smiling loosely at Grant. “You about ready for bed?”

The answer he got was a nod, and Leo's crooked finger, beckoning him up the stairs.

 

 

“I've decided that this stupid goddamn shitty furniture can be turned into goddamn firewood for our damn bedroom!”

“Have you?”

Grant glared up at Leo, standing in the doorway to the nursery, dressed in an old pair of jeans and one of Grant's hoodies. “And you're not helping because...?”

“Because this is actually far more entertaining if I stay out of it.” Leo answered, without missing a beat. “That, and you haven't asked for my help. I _believe_ what you said was 'You go relax, babe, let the tylenol sink in, and I'll take care of the furniture.'”

“Okay, yes.” Grant admitted. “I did say that, but that was because you slept at a weird angle and hurt your neck last night.”

“And you rubbed it for me this morning.”

“But you were still tense.”

Leo grinned. “Not nearly as tense as you are, trying to put together that change table.”

The front door opened downstairs, but unlike yesterday, neither of them went to investigate, knowing full well that it was May. The footsteps sounded on the stairs, accompanied by the clicks of Scout's nails, following her up.

“In the nursery!” Leo called. “Watching Grant test his blood pressure while he builds a change table.”

May came into view, an amused smirk on her face, and a small can of paint in her hand.

“I thought I heard a blood vessel breaking.” She said, calmly. “Carpenter is being shipped overseas earlier than we predicted, so I have to be back in Portland in two hours, but, I was thinking about what you said last night, Leo, about wanting to give the nursery your own personal touch when it came to the decorating.”

She lifted the small paint can. “Still have those paint trays handy?”

Leo ran down to the garage to retrieve one of them, while Grant pried the lid off with the screwdriver he'd been using to subdue the change table. It was definitely a welcome distraction, but he wasn't sure where she was going with this. The paint was a dark turquoise, and there was no where near enough of it to do anything fancy, especially not to all four walls.

May poured some of the paint into the tray when Leo returned, looking at them both. “Now, obviously, you can make personal touches with photos of you two, of the honorary aunts and uncles.” She smiled. “Pictures of the baby, too, obviously, but, until then...”

Setting the paint can down, she put her fingers around Grant's right wrist, and Leo's left, guiding them to lay their palms in the puddle of paint. “Since you're painting anyway, we can try this. Where's the crib going?” Leo pointed, and May waited until their palms weren't dripping paint, before she led them over to that wall. Eyeballing it for a second, she seemed to figure out where the crib would stand, or, at least, what would be a good height for what they were about to do.

“You first.” May said, grabbing Grant's wrist again, and guiding him to press his palm against the wall at a slight angle. She kept him there for a second, and then pulled him back. “And now--”

“--I see. Oh, I see what you're doing.” Leo said, quietly, before reaching forward to press his hand at an opposite angle to Grant's. Just like Grant before him, he waited a second before pulling it back, and looking at their handiwork.

There, on the wall, in turquoise paint, their handprints made the shape of a heart, right above where the baby's crib would go. It was a little lopsided, considering Leo's hand was smaller than Grant's, but what it was meant to be was undeniable.

It was the personal, unique touch that Leo had mentioned, and that Grant had agreed to wanting.

“It's perfect.” Grant said, quietly.

“Exactly what we needed.” Leo agreed.

May smiled. “I thought it would be good. So, when the baby gets older and asks? You better tell them that this was Grandma Melinda's idea.”

 


End file.
